Danish police have shot and wounded a man with alleged Islamic militant connections at the home of Kurt Westergaard, who drew one of the controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005, sparking outrage in the Muslim world.

Denmark’s intelligence agency said in a statement today that a 28-year-old Somali man, armed with a knife, broke into the cartoonist’s home in Aarhus on the night of January 1. Danish authorities later said the man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder.

But Westergaard and his five-year-old granddaughter, who was staying at the house, sought shelter in a specially made safe room.

The cartoonist pressed a security alarm and police arrived within minutes. The authorities said that police officers shot the man in the knee and a hand before arresting him.

The intelligence agency said the attack was “terror related.”

“The attempted murder of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard is linked to terrorism. The person arrested has close links with the Somali terrorist organization Al-Shebab as well as the heads of Al-Qaeda in East Africa,” said statement from the intelligence agency.

It said that the Somali man has been under surveillance by the security service “for a long time.”

'Shocked'

Danish officials said today that Westergaard, who is in his 70s, was “shocked” but not hurt in the attack.